SOLUTIONS: MULLINS CENTER ARENA, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES Time for change
Two decades of audio advances had passed when it came to upgrading this university arena, writes James McGrath
LOCATED ONthe flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts, the William D Mullins Memorial Center arena is home to UMass Amherst’s ice hockey and basketball teams. The facility also hosts events such as concerts as well as productions from a variety of UMass departments. With the 20-year-old PA
system no longer offering the desired sound and intelligibility, the university sought a replacement system that could provide the necessary coverage to fill the stadium and contend with 10,500 cheering sports fans.
GAME PLAN
The task of designing the new system was handed to Cambridge, Massachusetts- based acoustical consultancy firm Acentech.
“We had some ideas on which
direction we wanted to go with this design, based on the client’s requests,” comments Scott Jordan, consultant at Acentech. “However we were limited in the locations available to put new speakers.” Jordan and his team opted to run QSC’s ILA installation line array through EASE software after encountering products from the company prior to the project. This turned up some workable results. “It was clear these enclosures would do what I needed them to do,” confirms Jordan. Systems integrator North American Theatrix was enlisted to install the QSC solution. The new ILA system is
distributed in 11 arrays comprising 72 WL2082-i line array elements and 12 WL118- sw subwoofers. These were
installed around the arena, three on each side and one in each end zone, as well as three arrays covering the floor. “They're flown directly above the first row of seats,” Jordan reports. “The distance down to the first row of seats is about the same as the distance to the last row, so coverage is consistent throughout.” As for intelligibility, he says: “It’s a concrete hockey rink and we’re getting STI [speech transmission index] levels of 0.54 or better – that’s considered good to very good, and well within what we expected.” The system also includes a
Yamaha LS932 digital mixing console fitted with CobraNet output cards. These feed two Q- Sys Core 250i processors which are installed 400ft (120m) away in the gridwork above the floor
The system made its debut during an ice hockey match
and alongside the 22 PL340 amps, which drive the arrays. Pat Nelson, director of
projects, North American Theatrix, says: “The client was very happy. The QSC system is leaps and bounds ahead of what they had. The coverage sounds very even, all the way from the first row of seats to the upper nosebleed seats.”